The mayor of New Orleans just called out for help! Take any boat you have esp flat bottom boats to New Orleans now and use FRS and CB radios to communicate. THERE IS NO CELL PHONE POWER! Do not rely on your cell phones. Take all the gasoline, food and water you can. There is a Sam Club in New Orleans where everyone is meeting with their boats, although that is not required. Remember that the water is rising and many are trapped in their homes in the attacks and are unable to cut a hole in the roof to stand on it , so they will die if the water rises high enough. There is no electricity whatsoever, so latens, stoves and batteries are all youll be able to use.
If you go, take a generator if possible. You will not believe how useful even a lowly 2.5 KW beggar is until you ain't got one in these situations. Lots of gas and some 2 cycle oil for the chain saw. Water, yes, but FEMA will have that coming in abundance. Food, stick with cans. Liquor - don't.
I spent 8 days helping recovery in P'Cola last year - got cap and tee shirt. It is not fun!
I think the fellow meant that bringing a boat was not required. I heard the announcement on the news and the part about bringing a boat was a little confusing. Maybe the original poster was confused as well. What it meant to me was that if you were bringing a boat, meet at that Sams. The other places to meet, as I understood it, was the various Red Cross and Salvation Army stations.
And, I don't see any harm in the fellow posting it on newsgroups.
Yes it is. If you sincerely want to help, contact the authorities first, and they'll tell you how. However, do have something in mind to offer so you are not wasting their time. This guy is not one of the authorities [in case you hadn't guessed], and what they don't want is a mass of people clogging up their organised efforts. They'll put out the request, and it won't be through newsgroups.
When did that happen? Are they going to tear down all the cell phone antennas that have been built in the past 15 years? I'd better tell the guy erecting one 100 feet from where I work to stop it as the satellites are taking over.
Unless you have power for a charger, those cell phone batteries will die in a couple of days.
I'd kind of like to see what kind of battery you'd need in that cell phone to boost that signal from that itty-bitty antenna all the way to a geosynchronous satellite. BruceT
I do if it's not true. Also, for your information cell phones work from batteries and through satellite. My sister in law found it useful,and called us when they went through their last couple of hurricanes.
In emergency situations there is almost as much difficulty managing willing but untrained or ill equipped volunteers as there is managing the crisis in the first place.
How is that? A lot of folks have been thankful for "Bubbas" in bass boats". Historically in floods, shallow draft boats can save a ton of folks from rooftops, trees, and attics.
IMO, that's a load of condescending horseshit. Oddly enough, the authorities were asking for just such action from "Bubba's in bass boats" ... their regard is obviously higher than yours, but still probably not as high as the rescued, who could care less as long as they are.
You don't know much about emergency management, do you?
Here are some excerpts of information from another newsgroup (amateur radio, the first line of communications in nearly all major disasters) Pay close attention to the quotes from officials. Start with Sentence Two:
The on-the-ground situation in SE Louisiana and SW Mississippi is as bad as television is reporting. Neither state is permitting disaster relief agencies into the affected areas except on a very limited basis and only then where conditions are stable. Nearly everyone is still staging as close by as possible and waiting.
The Louisiana SM (Section Manager, an amateur radion organizational area manager) (Mickey Cox K5MC) and SEC (Section Emergency Coordinater-almost always works hand-in-glove with local Emergency Operations Centers which are usually official city-wide or county-wide agencies) (Gary Stratton K5GLS) are in communications with state officials, who have directed them to NOT advertise for volunteers. Some volunteers have been requested, and these are being staged at the state EOC.
The situation for the Mississippi SM and SEC, Malcolm Keown W5XX, in Vicksburg MS is very uncertain. His station is completely on the ground and EchoLink repeaters in the area are off-the-air. Attempts to contact Assistant SMs have been unsuccessful.
An AB2M.net Amateur Radio operator registration web site has been setup and is ready to go public when approval is received. Some Amateur Radio operators are known to be traveling towards the affected areas with emergency services and disaster relief agencies as dedicated communications resources.
Despite everyone's nearly overwhelming desire to help, about all we can do right now is to make preparations for a prompt response when the officials finally give their approval. None of us know when that will occur.
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